Menu

My Diet and Equipment

Food

Eating clean means something different to everyone. I think that everyone would agree though that it generally means a focus on eating whole foods and staying away from overly processed foods. For me, this means cooking everything that I eat, and knowing what goes into everything that I consume, and not buying anything at the supermarket that is processed before it got there. The recipes that are presented here are things that I actually eat. So you might wonder what my diet consists of. I eat a “part vegan, part Paleo diet”. I am vegan, except for consumption of fish and chicken. I generally eat a Paleo diet, with the exception of oats, seeds and puffed brown rice.

These items are in my pantry/refrigerator and are those items generally required for the recipes on this site:

Oats (I use quick oats, but rolled or steel cut oats will also work. If you are more strict, then you can use oat groats)

Puffed brown rice (occasionally used)

Fruit (dates, bananas, raisins are most often used)

Vegetables (organic if you can find it)

Coconut oil and olive oil are the only oils used

Seeds (sunflower, hemp, chia, flax, pepita and pumpkin are most often used)

Raw Nuts if you can find them raw (almonds, pecans, walnuts and cashews are recommended)

Agave, unsweetened applesauce and liquid stevia as sweeteners

Seasonings (like salt, paprika, oregano, thyme, basil, etc)

For those that eat meat, I will only post recipes with fish and chicken

Flours which are made of coconut, oats, nuts (can be made, do not need to buy)

Most people think that cooking raw means having a lot of special equipment. In reality, that is not the case. I switched to clean eating in January, and I have only purchased a dehydrator, a madoline and julienne tool since then. In total I spent about $40. The following items I recommend having if you are also thinking about making the switch:

Food processor with an S blade, shredder and slicer (mine is a Hamilton Beach)

Baking pans (I recommend a bread pan, 8×8, 9×9 and 13×9 and a cookie sheet, maybe a cupcake pan. I buy mine from Safeway for about $5 each)

Tupperware or plastic/glass containers (preferably a set which is air tight and freezer safe)

General cooking tools: wooden spoons, spatulas, peeler etc)

Blender (a high speed blender will be needed to fully blend things like smoothies, soups, frostings, and whipped desserts).

(Optional) Nut bags (you can buy these at Whole Foods, Sprouts and other natural food grocers) – this is only required to make milks

Mixing bowls

(Optional) Coffee or seed grinder (I have a Baby Bullet) – if you don’t have this, you can try using your food processor or simply buy the seeds already ground

(Optional) Juicer – this may be used in future recipes where pulp is used

If you do not have a lot of these things and are worried about the cost, you can look on Craigslist, Goodwill or eBay, where you can generally find these items used and at good prices.

Update: in order to make recipes which include frostings, soups, puddings, ice cream, and smoothies, I finally got a Vitamix! The best deal out there is the 5200 at Costco. 7 year warranty for a variable speed high speed blender with 2 horsepower.